One of the excellent aspects of Lost Mine of Phandelver is that it includes a number of side-quests. These are quests which don’t advance the main storyline that you can get from NPCs you meet. Side quests allow a Dungeon Master to present a view of ongoing life in the world. Necromancers investigate buried ruins (and cause problems with wandering zombies), orcs strike from a … Continue reading Examining Phandelver: Side Quests
A pall has fallen over the Forgotten Realms. The dark necromatic arts – on a level never before seen – have broken the bonds between this world and the next. The greatest power of the gods, that to restore life to those taken before their time, has been abolished, and those who have been previously restored to life are now weak and dying. How long … Continue reading Prelude to Annihilation: The Death Curse
During my second Curse of Strahd campaign, one of the characters was a ranger. Along the way, he befriended a raven, using speak with animals to talk with it and learn interesting things about Barovia. We named the raven Francis. It’s dangerous giving me control over “intelligent” animals. I’ve got a whimsical streak, and it came out in full force with Francis. And the ravens … Continue reading Whimsical DMing: Francis the Raven
A product that feels like a visitor from the past in this digital world are the D&D Character Sheets. This folder of loose-leaf sheets contains the following: 4 Character Sheets with skills listed with ability scores 4 Character Sheets with Personality Traits listed on the front page 4 Character Sheets with no Personalty Trait boxes 8 Introductory Character Sheets (single-sided) 4 Spellcasting Sheets Most of … Continue reading D&D Accessory Review: D&D Character Sheets
In the World of Greyhawk, there’s a kingdom ruled by an evil demigod. The kingdom and the demigod have the same name: Iuz. In the past 20 years, I’ve run a lot of campaigns set in Greyhawk, and we’ve often flirted with the idea of dealing with the threat of Iuz. His priests and orcs have popped up every so often, but they’ve never been … Continue reading Player Choices: Into the Land of Iuz
Parnast Under Siege is the final part of the Tier 1 storyline of Storm King’s Thunder for the D&D Adventurers League. After several previous adventures leading up to this part, the adventurers must defend Parnast against the Bad Fruul’s attack on the town. It does this with a spectacular conclusion, where the party are set against wave after wave of fearsome opponents. If you’re playing … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Parnast Under Siege
Mirrored Thrones is an adventure set in the city of Neverwinter, where a group of brave rebels attempt to overthrow the tyrannous Lord Neverember. Or perhaps they’re just supporting a pretender to the throne. In any case, the adventurers soon find themselves in the midst of a revolution, probably little the wiser as to why they’re involved. This is a tremendously innovative adventure, which uses … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review – Mirrored Thrones
I run a lot of published adventures. I’ve run most of the official D&D adventures, most of the D&D Adventurers League adventures, and a few adventures I’ve acquired from other publishers. And one thing happens to me again and again: A player asks a question, and although I know it’s somewhere in the adventure, I don’t know the answer. This is incredibly common. D&D adventures … Continue reading Dungeon Mastering Tips: Hey! That wasn’t in the adventure!
There are people in this world who are great at role-playing NPCs. They imbue the characters they assume with passion, vitality and bring forth the true essence of their personalities. That’s not me. I do funny voices and occasionally remember the voice I should be using two sessions in a row, so players can get familiar with the character’s portrayal. The fact is that most … Continue reading Dungeon Master Tips: Funny Voices and Roleplaying NPCs
The Scroll Thief, the sixth adventure of the first season of the D&D Adventurers League, is a curiosity: an investigative adventure that fails to have an investigation! It’s probably fairer to say that The Scroll Thief is a dungeon crawl that happens to have an investigation attached, but, in either case, the investigation feels odd. The adventurers are sent to interview three people from whom … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Scroll Thief
